Choices
by valentinespen
Summary: Rachel comes to a realization when she finally sees Quinn at the hospital. Post "On My Way".


**One-shot. It takes place right after "On My Way". I doubt the writers are going to hail Quinn with the hospital scene we've already started dreaming about. And this is where fanfiction comes in. Sorry for any mistakes. I just needed to get this out. Enjoy. I do not own these beautiful characters.**

Word Count: 3000

…

The chair's wooden handles restricted her from sleeping comfortably but the abundant frills attached to her wedding dress could stuff a whole mattress. Not that she was able to sleep soundly for starters. At most, she knocked out for 30 minutes before stirring to the slaps of frequent footsteps. Figures clad in scrubs and clogs strolled past her, some giving her attire a lingering, confused eye. Although doctors see crazy things from time to time, it's not everyday they see a bride in a hospital.

She regretted not taking her dads' multiple offers to drive home and back to the hospital with comfortable clothing. But the Lima Heights Hospital was a 45-minute drive from home. 45 times two? The hassle was too much.

Judy Fabray hadn't had a meal since she stepped foot in the hospital, and both women had been there for well over five or six hours. She couldn't blame the older blonde for lacking an appetite. How often was one's daughter hospitalized in a t-bone style car accident? Thinking back to the entire ordeal invited Rachel to the unsettled stomachs party. Regardless, Judy headed out to the downstairs café, insisting Rachel needed to digest something.

Stupid her and her damn overbearing impatience. Why did the gods have to destroy Quinn's car and almost kill Quinn to teach her that niggling eagerness would be a catastrophic flaw?

Another clipboard holding doctor whizzed by and she withdrew the impulse to grab her and demand answers about a beautiful five foot five blonde who had been admitted to the ICU because of her idiocy. But if tonight taught her anything, it was to wait and let good fortune come to her.

"Fabray? Anyone here for Fabray?" the authoritative voice called in the waiting area a few minutes later. Rachel shook herself from her stupor and grabbed as much of the wedding dress as her tiny hands could fill and trotted over to the doctor.

"Yes, right here. The mother stepped out for a few minutes but I am accompanying the Fabray family."

The doctor nodded. His eyes held bags upon bags but he still managed a weary smile.

"Come with me. I rather discuss these matters in private."

He led Rachel to an examination room in the ER and the door closed with a gentle creak. Rachel's heart hammered against her chest and she desired the support of anyone by her side right now—Finn, Kurt, Mr. Schue, hell even Sugar at this point, but she assured them that she'd be fine waiting alone with Mrs. Fabray. After all she was partly responsible for this whole ordeal.

"I don't usually disclose this information without an immediate family member present but you've been incredibly patient and I appreciate that."

Rachel sat in a small wooden chair while he stood opposite leaning on the exam table holding what she assumed to be a facsimile of Quinn's chart. She felt like a toddler being chastised. This whole night was perfect a PSA for the effects of texting while driving.

"Thank you."

"Now, Quinn Fabray," he glossed over the chart once more, "she was a little banged up. We put her in ICU for precautionary measures in case of head trauma. Indeed she procured a hematoma to the back of her head. Thankfully there was no major injury to her spinal cord." At that Rachel clasped the gold R resting on her sternum praying the list of injuries would be brief, but he kept going. "The impact of the intruding car broke the left fibula clean and also scratched the tibia. There is some expected muscle damage as well." Rachel felt the sweat accumulating and dampening the gold talisman. This was almost a record for her. No tears. But she felt them climbing up her chest.

"We also noticed some bruising on the left side by her rib cage. Her reports for any organ damage, however, were clear. She's a trooper. All in all, she'll be fine. A few months of recovery."  
><em>Fine<em>. That the word Rachel desperately awaited. He continued, "But most likely she'll need a wheelchair as her main mode of mobility."

The bride released a shaky breath she didn't know she was holding. "A what?"

Before the doctor could reiterate a frantic Judy Fabray burst through the door holding a bag of food.

"Sorry, I'm here."  
>She couldn't bear to hear the list again.<p>

…

Spider webs of wires ran across the limp, awake body. A lame leg was slightly elevated at an obtuse angle, propped up on what she assumed to be a sling. Incessant beeps from the heart monitor, an IV bag, and Darth Vader breathing from Quinn's oxygen mask gave the room a surreal illusion. Rachel reminds herself that tonight wasn't supposed to be like this. All she could do was sit and stare at her feet.

A teary eyed Judy departed from the room after sensing some extraterrestrial force telling her to leave the pair to just… be. Quinn's gaze was burned on Rachel's skin at this point, but the brunette couldn't meet her halfway. Rachel palms were glued together, her thumbs reddening the tan skin on her knuckles. Alleviation dropped in the form of tears and slowly moisturized her hands. She couldn't look at her because the guilt and image of the blond bandaged like a mummy frazzled her. Rachel hated herself.

"Rach," a feeble hand managed to crawl onto the singer's shoulder, "Look at me." Rachel couldn't _not _obey her. It was Quinn.

So she looked and rued doing it as soon as she turned around. Dreamy hazel, evergreen eyes dimly glowed back at her and Rachel let the tears pour out even harder.

"Quinn, I'm so sorry." Rachel shook her head at the cuts and scrapes plastered with gauze on her delicate cheeks.

"Shhhh," came the response. She stretched the elastic and pulled the gas mask off. The misty medication was diminishing, "Why are you crying? Don't be sorry. You didn't do anything." And at that Rachel stood up in a flurry and Quinn's hand dropped from her shoulder, her back facing the bandaged girl. Rachel felt infuriated. Angry with herself, annoyed at Quinn for not taking into account the direness of the situation, angry at the world...

"How can I not be upset?" Rachel spun around and flourished her hand in a gesture to Quinn's body. "Look at you!"

Quinn huffed out a breath. Rachel was exuding so much emotion and energy. Looking at the singer made her tired. "You didn't do anything. It's not as bad as it looks. Besides, I did this to myself," she said in a matter-of-fact manner.

Rachel wiped her now puffy eyes, the mascara coloring a streak across her forearm. She contorted face in a confused expression, "You got into the accident on purpose?"

"What? No, I… the combination of sedatives and your pacing is making me dizzy. Can you just sit?" Quinn used her right hand to pat the side of the bed and Rachel beckoned. The task was almost impossible with the amount of space Rachel's dress encompassed.

"Rachel, look at me," she commanded a second time and the brunette gave her full attention.

"I don't want you to harbor all this guilt on your shoulders. I shouldn't have been texting while driving. It was reckless and foolish of me to think I could balance the two," Quinn turned away slowly enough, not adding any extra heaviness the swelling on her head. Rachel remained mute, hesitant to break the still water. "What time is it?"

"A bit after midnight. You've been here for almost seven hours."

"And you stayed here the entire time?"

Rachel nods, "It was partially my fault. I should at least be willing to serve for the consequences of my actions."

Quinn closed her eyes and let the medications sink in a little deeper. Rachel was so obstinate. Typical self-blaming, type-2 personality. "Is that all you see this as? As making amends for your wrongs?"

The brunette shook her head furiously and gingerly laid her hand on Quinn's, uncertain of the extent of blonde's injuries, "Of course not. If it was any other circumstance I still would have stayed the entire night. You know that."

"You really mean that?" Her voice cracks on the question and it almost shattered Rachel's heart.

"Why would I lie?"

Quinn just circled her thumb on the girl's hand as a response. The intimacy heightened instantaneously by the small gesture. A whole new level of trust branded into their fragile relationship. Admittedly, sometimes she was walking on eggshells when it came to Quinn. Saying one wrong statement could easily send her running in the opposite direction.

Becoming friends was inevitable. Opposition and constant bickering was too demanding, too draining, even for the two most headstrong girls in McKinley High. Even in this newly established friendship, there were roller coasters of emotional highs and lows. Both preventing each other from doing something stupid and indefinitely lamentable.

"Well, at least you accomplished one thing tonight," Rachel started.

"What's that?"

"Stopped the wedding."

They both laughed and a heavenly sound filled the dim room, but as soon as the happiness began, reality struck again. Quinn retracted her hand at lightening speed and palmed her rib cage in blatant pain. Rachel had no time to miss the warmth of the blonde's hand as she stared in dread at the bed-ridden girl moaning in pain.

"God, are you okay?" She was conflicted. She wanted nothing more than to assuage Quinn's discomfort, but any touch to the sensitized body might have shot even more daggers of pain. So she was forced to sit futilely and watch Quinn writhe.

She hissed, "Yeah, I'm okay. I guess laughter isn't always the best medicine," and she sends a smile. Rachel just frowns at her.

"I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing."

"Sorry. Again."  
>Quinn yawned and switched the topic to draw attention away from her wounds, "Where's everyone?"<p>

"They went home,"

"Oh," dejection evident in her voice.

"No, Quinn," Rachel corrected, "They waited quite awhile for a report but I encouraged them to return home. I promised to send a mass text once I heard anything."

"Okay. Is Finn here with you?" Quinn slanted her perfect yet pale lips.

"No, he stayed a bit longer after the group left. Then he started to sleep and drool himself into a puddle," Rachel's face twisted in disgust; Quinn managed a soft chuckle. "He said he didn't understand why I felt the need to stay here. Frankly, I was too tired to explain everything to him. I just said I owed it to you."

"You don't owe me anything,"

"You stopped my wedding."

"I wasn't trying to do a good deed, obviously. Yes, I'm not entirely happy about your engagement to Finn but I meant every word when I said I was going to support you,"

"Why?"

"Because you deserve to be happy. However, I'm sorry about the ceremony."

"Well, I'm sure my fathers are happy but regardless I think this is a slightly more important affair." Quinn telepathically sent a "thank you" through her gaze because words were currently failing her. "Would you believe me if I said I'm starting to have doubts about marrying Finn?"

"Hmm, I believe any normal human being would have doubts about marrying Finn Hudson." Immobilized and still snappy. Rachel narrowed her eyes at her. "What made you change your mind?"

The brunette couldn't help a face-palm, "Partially, his attitude today. You should've seen him bellowing up and down threatening to start the wedding with or without you. Believing Santana when she said you bailed out on us," the blonde wasn't surprised. She just shrugged it off.

"Hmm, cut him some slack. I'm sure he was just nervous."

"It's not just today, Quinn. It's been of late. We argue about such petty things and even the other day about the whole picture debacle with Sebastian. He's so short-fused and loses faith in me so quickly. Some days I feel like he's going to break with me right on the spot, and then some days I feel we're on a cloud nine. I need some semblance of stability,"

"No one said relationships would be easy. It comes with its ups and down. But you have to decide when too much becomes too much. Everyone has his or her limit. You know, you have a tendency to blow up quickly sometimes too, Rachel," and there's her brutal honesty, "But as far as faith goes, yours is unstoppable. You've always been the strong one out of all of us. It's a quality I've always admired."

She bowed and accepted the compliment as blush crept up her cheeks, "Speak for yourself, Miss Fabray."

Hazel eyes lowered in humility and then silence filtered through again.

"Why did you agree to marry Finn?"

It threw her, and Rachel had no choice but to turn her head away before answering her, "B-because I… love him."

"Really? You don't sound too sure on that."

She conceded defeat with a sigh and carefully formulated an answer, "I was scared… Scared that NYADA wouldn't accept me. So I jumped on the gun and just agreed. And then the letter came in…"

As Rachel recounted her reasoning to Quinn, the whole engagement began to sound like a contract rather than two people who were supposedly madly in love.

"And now?"

"And now I'm having doubts,"

"Rachel…"

"I know. I don't need the lecture but I-I panicked," she stammered.

"You can't do this to him or yourself. It's a delusion." Quinn re-gripped Rachel's thumb, forcing eye contact. "You know how I knew it wasn't going to work?"

"How?"

"The day he made you choose between him and singing in glee club. Someone who loves you wouldn't make you choose between that. _I _wouldn't make you choose that."

The phrasing of the statement threw her. _She _wouldn't make her choose? "I really do love him though Quinn, but music—"

"Is your first love," she finished and it's like someone wrote her life story down in a book and handed it to Quinn in the middle of her night. She knew her weaknesses, her strengths, her aspirations, her fears. Three years could do that to people.

"Yeah, my daddy, the Jewish one, said my first word was 'Barbra,'" they both laughed.

"I can believe it. I told you before you're destined for bigger things than Lima, and I was right wasn't I? NYADA is your chance. And if a wobbly teenage romance is making you doubt what you've been wishing for all your life, then maybe it's time to reevaluate your priorities."

"When did you become so insightful and all-knowing?"

"A combination of Mr. Schue's speeches… and when we had that talk during Sectionals,"

"Why?"

"Because you talked me out of doing something that would have ruined someone's life and potentially my conscience. You grow. You learn from people." It's a summary of the entire situation.

And then Rachel stole the show like she always does and shocked Quinn.

She kissed her.

Right on the cheek above the cross-taped gauze. The pressure didn't hurt, but maybe the shock prevented her from registering anything. Soft lips were pressed against her cool skin and it sent a hot jolt from her cheek down to her toes. The peck was a mere second but time was reluctant to move in harmony with the world. Rachel pulled away and left three feet apart from their faces. Her arm was a makeshift kickstand as she supported her body on the bed. It was vaguely reminiscent of junior prom.

Heat was rising in the room and it wasn't from the layers on the bride's dress.

"Thank you," Rachel whispered after what felt like an eternity.

"For what?"

But Rachel didn't answer and Quinn didn't bothering waiting for one, "I have another question." The stiff bedding of the mattress shifted as Quinn attempted to drag her body to an upright position.

"Quinn!" Rachel protested as the blonde winced at the movements, "You're hurting yourself." Rachel placed a hand as a halting force to bring her back to the bed but Quinn lightly brushed the hand off.

She took a deep breath before connecting with Rachel's chocolate orbs and asking, "At Regionals… who were you singing your solo for?"  
>"I told you. Finn…" she whispered his name and looking in the blonde's direction altogether.<br>Quinn moved closer but the singer didn't back away. It's almost impossible for Rachel to not stare at Quinn's lips; she felt her breath shortening as the intensity smothered them.

"Really? You don't sound too sure on that," and just like that with absolutely no warning Quinn kissed her. It was her turn to steal the show.

And Rachel kissed her back. The bride's hands were still yet the pressure was equally returned. The moment their lips fixed Quinn's hand gravitated towards Rachel's neck, attempting to deepen the kiss. Quinn nipped the brunette's lips gently and then—

Rachel was already out of her grasp and mumbling mantras of "I can'ts" and "Why now's?" while lifting the dress and heading towards the door. In an instant Rachel reclaimed the spotlight and dragged her dress out of room in what had to be the most dramatic scene Quinn had ever witnessed. Quinn's mouth hung open long after she deserted her. She slumped back to the pillow with a thud and didn't both to give a fuck about the throbbing pain in her head from the harsh contact.

Judy Fabray, who was waiting outside, rushed back into room after brushing by a crying Rachel running to the elevators. The younger Fabray knew her mother probably wanted an answer but the only person she wanted to talk to was a runaway bride that wasn't even hers to begin with.  
>…<p>

Her phone was maimed during the wreck, and she only knew the first few digits of the girl's number by heart. So a restless night was spent replaying the entire visit like a frayed record.

When she finally woke the next morning from three hours of sleep, an arrangement was abandoned on her table. It arrived anonymously but the star-shaped balloons and white-roses-and-gardenias combination told her everything she needed to know.

**The End.**

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><p><strong>Leave reviews please. Tell me what you liked about it. Thank you. :) <strong>


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